CORRECTION: Fitch Expects To Rate PDVSA Finance Notes `A-'.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2001

(In a release issued earlier, the $1.5 billion issuance did not

have a proper description. The amended version follows.)

Fitch expects to rate the $1.5 billion shelf registration issuance from PDVSA Finance Ltd. 'A-`. PDVSA Finance Ltd. is a Cayman Islands special- purpose company wholly owned by Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). The rating on the notes is higher than Fitch's 'BB-' sovereign rating on the foreign currency obligations of the Republic of Venezuela.

The expected rating reflects:

-- PDVSA's ability to produce and export crude oil and petroleum products at
least close to current levels;

-- The very low likelihood that the Republic of Venezuela would impose material
or permanent restrictions on crude oil and petroleum exports and/or force the
remittance of all export revenues, thus causing a loss to the holders of PDVSA
Finance notes;

-- The strong legal structure that makes it difficult for Venezuela to divert
cash flows away from investors;

-- The four times debt service coverage ratio that will protect investors even
from a simultaneous sharp decline in both price and demand for Venezuelan oil
and petroleum products;

-- And the liquidity account, funded with a portion of the issuance proceeds,
which will have a balance, on any day, equal to the amount of debt service
scheduled to be paid in the next 30 days.

The transaction is expected to close during the second week of November 2001 and a presale report will be available shortly on Fitch's web site `www.fitchratings.com'.